Emilia Vartiainen/History
Early Life Born of the daughter of two nurses in Finland, Emilia spent more time than others in the hospital where they worked, eager to learn more about what her mother and father did. As a result, she spent a great amount of time surrounded by pain and suffering. Faced with this, the mind of a child can only respond in so many ways, and she developed the urge to erase it all, the idea of taking pain and using it for something else rather than simply hurting people. Despite this, however, she made something of a happy life there, enjoying visiting the hospital whenever she could and doing her best to brighten up the lives of the patients there. It is unknown when she began to fully develop her Stand, though Dante Inferiro Orlandrius describes its beginning to manifest as being an almost miraculous event, only caused by one factor: the arrival of the Arrow within the vicinity of the town in which she lived. Both Dante and Judas Priest were in the area, scouting out potential Stand users, and hers began to manifest as soon as the Arrow came close. Initially, it was harmless, and even felt like providence: in exchange for the occasional queer feeling, the pain and suffering of the patients she visited would decrease immensely, uplifting their spirits immediately. Appearing as a blessing, Emilia employed it freely, glad that she could finally achieve what she had aspired for so long. However, as the duo continued to approach, her Stand continued to manifest more and more, and began nearing a physical form. The spectrum of what pain it could 'take away' expanded, eventually reaching the realm of emotional pain, and it finally partially physically manifested, lashing out with a punch that nearly killed one of the patients. Terrified, Emilia chose to suppress her Stand from that moment forth, to keep a similar incident from occurring. Alas, her efforts proved to be in vain, as when Priest and Orlandrius finally reached the town itself, passing by her on her way to the hospital for the day, they allowed the Arrow to graze her. This successfully awakened Sufferer & Witness fully, and it emerged into total physical form. Starved of pain from being suppressed for a decent while, it went berserk immediately. What followed was a massacre. Freed from the chains its own master had placed upon it, Sufferer & Witness attacked with abandon, hurting anyone near it and continuing to rampage after them, eventually breaking into buildings and attacking there. Finally, after causing massive damage and catastrophic levels of injuries, it managed to break freely from any control that Emilia had over it and reached the hospital. Entering without any difficulty, it unleashed a massive assault that wounded almost everyone within, even killing some of the patients without any visible hesitation or qualms. Dragged along and completely out of control, Emilia could only watch in horror as it reached the staff next, beating them within an inch of their life and even managing to injure her own parents. The massacre finally came to an end when Judas Priest caught up with it. Having judged it to be a suitably powerful Stand, he defeated it in a single blow with his One, forcing it to withdraw for the time being. With Dante looking on, he approached a frozen Emilia and extended a hand to her, offering to teach her how to control this Stand so that an incident like this wouldn't happen again. Surrounded by blood, bodies, and corpses, Emilia eagerly agreed to go with the duo, taking his hand and being carried off without any fuss. From that point on, she became one of Priest's followers, taking part in the training he offered them. It was far from easy, and the amount of pain she went through in order to master control over S&W could almost be considered outright abuse in some cases. However, master it she did, and when it was all over, she had become one of the man's most loyal followers, ready to aid him in whatever he did. She entered the world of underground Stand fighting shortly after, and was given the simple task: to find and battle Seiji Kamijou, a member of the Joestar bloodline who had recently entered himself, to test his strength. If he proved weak, she was to simply kill him right then and there. In-Story An Invitation From Speedwagon Sufferer & Witness (Emilia Vartiainen) Stand Punk Underground The Zeppeli Twins